#classic velen

[chilljustacat]

[gay-jewish-bucky]

Hello, how are you? I'm currently planning on making a battle vest inspired by Bucky as part of a casual punk cosplay and I was wondering if maybe you or some of your followers might have suggestions as to what kind of patches and pins I could put on it? Stuff that aren't necessarily Marvel themed but that Bucky could realistically put on a battle vest if he made his own. I'm asking you because I know you understand his character pretty similarly to how I do, so I hope this is ok. Thanks in advance, hope you're doing well :)

I'm alright, thanks! I hope you're doing well too! ❤️ That jacket sounds really cool! I'm so sorry this took this long to reply, my drafts are a mess and time got away from me. If you're still looking, I have a few ideas and can open it up to my followers too.

'This Machine Kills Fascists' is a classic

'Mir Velen Zei Iberleben' is a Yiddish exclamation that came out of the Shoah and is commonly used in the Jewish punk scene

Anything about being unapologetically gay, if you'd be comfortable with it, I think he'd be pulled more toward patches/pins that reclaim older terms for gay, (I saw one that said, 'Panzy Punk' and thought it was pretty cool)

Building on that point, anything with a pride flag + star of David

Perhaps a NASA or spaced-related patch

An 'End Jew Hate' patch might be better than ones that include antisemitic symbols (even crossed out), that way it centres Jews instead of Nazis, and leaves the door open for antisemitism from all ideologies to be called out

Leaving this open for my followers!!

[limerental]

love ciri's relatable horse girl moments like when she's travelling to gors velen with yennefer in time of contempt she's all CAN WE GALLOP NOW and yen sighs and is like fine yes. gallop. just don't break your neck.

classic little horse girl moment of go very fast on horsey at any opportunity

[faerune]

emily do you have any thoughts or ideas you could share about your wow ocs 🥺🙏 all of their pinterest boards are gorgeous!!

SOPHIIIIE my beloved

so like the Main Crew who is responsible for like most of what is attributed to the player characters. they all start as a group of adventurers in TBC, with fiona and vaelin sent by the kirin tor most notably to find what happened to khadgar and for vaelin also kael'thas cause what's he doin out there....

Ahma: draenei protection paladin. the unofficial leader of the gang. she was born on draenor and her parents died during the siege of karabor. ahma and her sister were unofficially adopted/taken under the wing of the prophet velen. she eventually trained as a paladin after finding she did not have the gentle touch or patience for priesthood.

Fiona: human frost mage. was born to poor farmers in hillsbrad foothills. once her magic manifested, her mother basically sold her to the kirin tor of dalaran. she has mommy issues and regularly sends her wages back to her family it's all very sad but she's a bitch on the outside so no one knows wow revolutionary character. (but i love her sm) constantly serving cunt

Vaelin: blood elf fire mage. born to an elven prostitute who died when he was young, he lived a few years as an urchin and an orphan until the kirin tor found he had a talent for magic essentially saving him. he's a dickhead, he and fiona butt heads, they fall in love, have a baby, we love to see it. also he might be a sunstrider bastard? possibly? we don't know.

Durin: dwarf beastmastery hunter. veteran of the first, second, and third wars. he was part of a guild of adventurers who were responsible for everything in Classic. during the re-opening of AQ, the group was slaughtered by C'Thun including his wife: sereda. durin was one of the few who survived and the only one who was not driven insane by such close proximity to an old god. this was simply because of dumb luck as he was knocked out early in the fight. he's grumpy and does Not have the patience to deal with all these young adventurers but really he's just scared to bond with them and lose them. also he has a griffon who he loves SO MUCH (who i haven't named yet).

Trixie: gnome subtlety rogue. born to two extraordinary famous gnomish inventors, she set out on her own because her parents were very....overbearing considering she's their only child and the whole lost of gnomeragan thing. kleptomaniac. likes to blow things up. besties with durin.

during cataclysm, the last two members of the party join round everything out.

Lanayla: night elf resto druid. the sweetest pea. born to two druids and grew up in darkshore as her parents had left after the druid order back then did not accept women. her mother sadly died when she was super young and her father trained her as a druid and it was pretty much just them out in their little cottage <3 they were super close, one of my few OCs with a good dad lmaooo. she seeks out help for darkshore during the cataclysm and is met with wellllllll everywhere needs help by the other night elves. BUT the worgen who had been saved and given refuge by the night elves volunteered to help.

Warwick (first name James but he never goes by that): worgen rogue/warrior (haven't decided yet oops). one of the worgens who first volunteers to help lanayla! he's more soft spoken and thoughtful which bless him gets drowned out with all the strong voices i talked about above. he was the bastard son of greymane's sister and was raised alongside HIS children when his mother died. greymane is like a father to him and when liam dies and tess abdicates it falls to him to become heir. he and lanayla fall in love and eventually head back to gilneas after shadowlands to rebuild <3

there's a bunch of other characters who are allies/associated with this group along with a group similar of horde characters but i cannae get into that this is already long and obnoxious

[senashenta]

The Forest

Title: The Forest

Pairing: Lambden

Rating: T

Warnings: Language (because Lambert is in it, c'mon)

Summary: Lambert is hunting a piddly little basilisk and lets it lead him deep into the forests of Velen-- AFTER DARK, a place no one should go when she sun is down. On his own, he eventually calls Aiden to keep him company. But he would never admit that, of course.

Notes: This one is completely out of order with the other Witcher SPN AU fics that I’ve been writing, but I mentioned it in What No One Knows and then ended up deciding I wanted to write it, so. Here we are. This takes place before What No One Knows. And once again, Lambden because they’re my favorite in this AU (I also like Geralt and angel!Jaskier but honestly crossroads demon!Aiden is the SHIT.) But no smut this time. Sorry! More incoming in future fics.

Classic basilisk lore, here, just SPN-ified a little for fun. Good times. :D Can also be read HERE on AO3.

THE FOREST By Senashenta

The forests of Velen were nowhere to be caught out at night, especially alone. They were chock full of brigands and bounty hunters and monsters of all kinds, things that would think nothing of taking on even a Witcher, and Lambert had been really, really stupid to go in there on a solo Hunt and then not only lose all track of time—but also all sense of direction. Velen’s forests were a fucking maze and not to be taken lightly, even during daylight hours.

But Lambert had been hip-deep in a basilisk Hunt and Velen was where he had tracked the thing earlier in the day, deep into the woods where he suspected the creature’s lair was. Basilisks were relatively low on the totem pole as far as monsters were concerned, only the size of large dogs, but a single look from one could kill a person—or anything for that matter—in an instant, of what would later, to coroners, appear to be a heart attack.

The only clue that it was a basilisk, and not natural causes, were the milky white eyes left behind on the corpses—oh, and the missing ovaries. Basilisks tended to go after mainly women because their ovaries were a delicacy to them, so they, naturally, ripped them out when their victim was dead and couldn’t fight back anymore.

The only thing that could kill a basilisk was its’ own reflection—though fire was also a deterrent—hence Lambert carrying several mirrors in his various pockets, though he was toting his silver sword and a handgun as well because you could never be too careful—especially in the forests of Velen. So, the sword was strapped to his back, the pistol tucked in the waistband of his jeans as he slogged his way through the woods, following a trail that someone without his extensive training would have overlooked completely.

It was already starting to get dark, the shadows growing longer by the minute, and Lambert cursed himself for his own stupidity. But then again, it wasn’t as if he could allow the basilisk to just keep rampaging around at will, was it? And Vesemir had assigned him this case, he couldn’t just say no. He’d had no way of knowing when or where it would take him at the time.

In the interest of speeding things along, Lambert picked up his pace, but he was already deep enough into the woods that he would never make it out by sundown. Lambert mentally readied himself for a night in the depths of the forests of Velen.

He was after a forest basilisk today, and forest basilisks liked to keep their burrows deep underground, amongst the roots of the biggest trees they could find. Something about them always seemed to kill the trees, though, they rotted away over time until the basilisk’s burrow became compromised, and the creature was forced to move on, leaving a trail of dead trees in their wake. Now, Lambert found himself coming up on a huge, obviously dying oak and—yep. He was there.

Once he was close enough, Lambert reached up to pluck a leaf from one of the lower branches. It basically crumbled in his hand. He rubbed his fingers together, then brushed the debris off on his jeans before beginning to look around the base of the oak for the entrance to the basilisk’s burrow.

He found it around the other side of the tree, and peered into it warily for a moment, then straightened up with a muttered curse. It occurred to him that he should have brought a freaking shovel, but in his scrambling to pack weapons he just hadn’t thought of it. Now the basilisk was huddled probably ten, twelve feet deep in its’ burrow and he had no way to dig it out—not that digging it out would have been easy, but still.

In short, he was uppercase F-U-C-K-E-D.

And he was stuck in the forest of Velen for the night.

“Godsdammit.” Lambert spent a few minutes pacing back and forth in front of the burrow, wearing a groove into the dirt with his boots—and then finally threw his hands into the air. It was almost completely dark now and he needed to get a fire started before someone—or something—came for him in the night. He couldn’t fight if he couldn’t see, and as much as a Witcher’s sight was enhanced it wasn’t perfect.

It took twenty minutes, give or take, to gather enough wood and kindling to start a proper fire and then another ten before Lambert had a good one up and going. The entire time he was listening to the sounds of the forest coming alive around him, creaks and groans, rustling and what almost sounded like whispers from the shadows all around him. He hurried.

Once the fire was properly roaring, burning bright, Lambert gathered enough more wood for a decently sized pile in reserve and then paced around the fire for another few minutes before finally dropping down to sit beside it, his sword beside him, legs crossed under him and arms crossed over his chest, just generally being grumpy at the world. He didn’t even have anything to eat—hadn’t thought to pack a fucking power bar or two in the mad dash after the fleeing basilisk. He also had no water, though at that point he would much rather have had a bottle of whiskey.

And so, he settled in for a long, uncomfortable, hungry and thirsty night alone in the woods.

It wasn’t long before he was muttering under his breath again, though, shifting uncomfortably in his seat in the dirt and moss, picking at the dead leaves that littered the forest floor around him and wishing he was literally anywhere but there. Every little sound made him twitch toward his sword or gun, even just the slightest of rustles in the trees. Paranoia began to creep in at around the hour mark.

That was about when he decided fuck it and fished Aiden’s card out of his wallet.

“Well, this isn’t your typical dive bar.” Aiden’s voice spoke up a few seconds later, and the demon took a moment to look around himself before asking, “Velen?”

“Yeah.” Lambert glanced up at him, watched him continue to look around for a minute before finally shrugging and dropping down to sit next to the Witcher beside the crackling fire. Aiden bumped sideways against him lightly and Lambert allowed it. “Got caught out on a Hunt.”

“Is that why you’re camping ten feet from a basilisk burrow?”

“Fuckin’… yeah. Basically.”

“Not the brightest of ideas, Lambs.”

“I know. I’m the brown crayon.” Lambert rolled his eyes, “hence the fire. Should keep it in its’ burrow until I can figure out a way to dig it out tomorrow.”

“Dig it out?” Aiden seemed to consider for a moment, then just made a kind of grabbing, grasping motion with his right hand. Somewhere deep in the burrow, the basilisk uttered a guttural squawk. Then Aiden drew his hand back, pulling, and looked over toward the burrow, where the basilisk was now being bodily dragged out into the open by invisible hands, scrabbling at the dirt and screeching the entire time. “Where’s your mirror?”

“What the fuck—?!”

“You do have a mirror, right?”

“Of course I have a fuckin’—I’ve got ten of the Godsdammed things around here somewhere—"

Lambert scrambled to search his pockets until he came up with a mirror, Aiden watching him with a bemused sort of smirk the entire time, still holding the basilisk out in the open, one hand clenched into a fist now, gripping tightly against the creature’s flailing. Lambert finally climbed to his feet and headed over, eyes very pointedly averted, to grasp the basilisk by the neck and shove the mirror into it’s face.

The beast screeched and flapped around some more, then slowly fell still and silent. Over by the fire, Aiden released his grip and called out, “it’s dead, you can look now.”

When the basilisk went limp in his hand, Lambert let go, leaving it to fall heavily to the forest floor and then finally looking at it properly. The thing was ugly, that was for sure, like a dragon had fucked a chicken or something. Lambert grumbled to himself as he knelt down to give it a once over—and was pleased to discover it was male. If it had been female, there would have been a good chance the burrow was full of eggs—or even young basilisks, all of which would need to be destroyed as well.

“Stop molesting the poor thing, it’s already dead.” Aiden called over.

Lambert snorted softly but straightened up and headed back over to the fire, anyway, pocketing the mirror again on the way. “Just making sure. It’s a male. No eggs or young to take care of.”

“Ah.” A soft understanding sound, then; “I feel for the basilisk, you know.”

“You would.”

“Hey, it was just doing what basilisks do.”

Lowering himself down to sit next to Aiden again, Lambert gave a little, amused half-grin. You could say the same thing about most of the monsters he came up against, he supposed. They were just doing what they do. “It should have done it outside my jurisdiction, then.”

Aiden didn’t respond to that, but even his body language was amused. Lambert picked up a stray stick and began poking at the fire absently—when it half-collapsed in on itself, Aiden reached for a handful of sticks from the nearby pile and tossed them into the flames.

The two of them were quiet for a long time, then, just sitting together and watching the fire roar away. They had never really done this before; just existed together the way they were now. It was always hard and fast and straight to a bed with the two of them, or it had been in the past. This was actually kind of… nice. Lambert thought. In a fucked up kind of way.

“Why did you call me here, Lambs?”

That was a good question. Lambert wasn’t really sure of the answer, himself. He supposed he had called Aiden because… because he had been uncomfortable, alone in the forests of Velen at night, even as a Witcher. Lambert shifted a little and poked at the fire with the stick in his hand. “It’s not safe to be in these woods alone at night.” He grunted finally.

Aiden gave a little smile at that. “And I was the only one you could call on, I suppose.”

Lambert shrugged. “No one else could make it in time.” A pause, then; “except maybe Jaskier. He’s handy with the teleporting. But spending a whole night with his chatter would be… just. Ugh. No thank you.” He sighed and rolled his eyes, “I don’t know how Geralt puts up with him so much.”

“The foibles of love.” Aiden chuckled. He shifted to bump sideways into Lambert again. “Hey, you look exhausted. You’ve probably been tracking that basilisk for days with no sleep. Why don’t you catch a couple hours? I’ll keep watch.”

Lambert glanced sideways at the demon in surprise. “You fuckin’ serious?”

“Of course. I don’t need to sleep, keeping watch is a natural progression.”

The Witcher stared at Aiden for the longest of moments, trying to figure out what his angle was—but Aiden just looked back at him, seeming nothing but sincere. Demons could fake it with the best of them, though. But Lambert didn’t think he was—because Aiden was always forthright with him, or had been in the past, so why would that change now?

Finally, after a long moment of looking at each other, Lambert averted his gaze almost uncomfortably and gave a brief nod. “Yeah, okay. Thanks.”

“No problem.”

Another brief hesitation and then Lambert shifted around, tossing his stick into the fire and then shuffling to lay down on his side, one arm up and pillowed under his head. He continued staring at the fire for a moment before closing his eyes, sure he wouldn’t be able to sleep at all.

A chuckle. “Goodnight, Lambs.”

A grunt in response. “’Night.”

The next thing Lambert knew he was waking up next to the smouldering remains of the fire pit. He almost panicked when he saw the fire was basically out—until he noticed the rays of dappled sunshine that were lighting the forest floor around him. And how long had he been out?

When he went to sit up he found Aiden’s jacket tossed over him and took a moment to marvel at that before pulling the jacket off and sitting up with a yawn—only to find Aiden still seated where he had been the night before, cross legged and staring into the burning embers of what was left of the fire. When Aiden noticed Lambert moving, he sat up straighter and offered the Witcher a smile.

“Hey, you’re up.” When Lambert held out the borrowed jacket, Aiden took it back and pulled it on with a murmured thanks. “You slept like the dead, Lambs, you really were exhausted.”

“Didn’t mean to.” Lambert ran a hand through his hair, “how long was I out?”

“A few hours. It’s daylight now, that should tell you something.” Aiden reached over to smooth Lambert’s hair down, an amused little smile on his face. “Nothing happened while you were sleeping, it was quiet.”

“And you stayed?”

“Of course. I said I would, didn’t I?”

“Yeah but…” Lambert palmed over his face. He really didn’t understand what this was, what was going on between himself and Aiden. Something that made Aiden want to sit and protect him throughout the night in the forest of Velen, of all places. The demon could easily have disappeared at any point, but he hadn’t. He supposed he should just be grateful and accept it for what it was.

Aiden was already climbing to his feet, brushing the stray leaves and dirt off his clothes. “I actually do have to go, though. I’m not really allowed to take the night off just because my boyfriend calls me.” Wait—boyfriend? Lambert opened his mouth to ask about that, but Aiden just continued on: “I have to get back to work before I get in shit for this. Are you good to make it back out of here on your own?”

Lambert nodded mutely.

“Okay, good.” Aiden stepped over and leaned up to give him a brief kiss… and then another one, just for good measure. “See you later, Lambs.”

“Yeah… see you.”

And then Aiden was gone, vanishing into nothingness and leaving Lambert to stare almost blankly at the spot where he had been standing only seconds before.

“…fuck.”

[levisgeekstuff]

De vele incarnaties van Captain Marvel

Hoewel de nieuwste Marvel film ‘The Marvels’ het alles behalve goed doet aan de box office, zorgt de film toch wel voor wat hernieuwde aandacht voor Captain Marvel. Een goede reden om eens in de geschiedenis van dit personage te duiken. Want hoe zit dat nu met die verschillende Captain Marvels en wie is dan Ms Marvel? En nog belangrijker: zijn er daar comics van in het Nederlands verschenen? 😉 Lees meer 👉

De Oorsprong van Captain Marvel

Laten we voor alle duidelijkheid beginnen met de Captain Marvel van Marvel Comics. Die werd geïntroduceerd in 1967. Mar-Vell was een Kree-soldaat gestationeerd op aarde. Zijn avonturen, in het begin in een groen-wit kostuum, draaiden om thema's als oorlog en het begrip van intergalactische culturen. De 7 eerste delen van de oorspronkelijke Amerikaanse Captain Marvel serie verschenen bij ons in HIP Classics (3 nummers) en een eigen Kapitein Marvel serie (helaas slechts één nummer). 

Mar-Vell's belang in het Marvel-universum groeide helaas voor hem vooral na zijn dood in de baanbrekende strip 'The Death of Captain Marvel' uit 1982. Deze fraaie graphic novel verscheen bij Juniorpress als tweede deel van de ‘Marvelstrip’ reeks.

Monica Rambeau

Na de dood van de oorspronkelijke Captain Marvel nam Monica Rambeau de rol over in 1982. Als een Afro-Amerikaanse vrouw uit New Orleans gaf Monica een nieuwe dynamiek aan de verhalen. Haar krachten (het manipuleren van energie) maakten haar tot een van de machtigste personages in het Marvel-universum. Door de manier waarop ze leiderschap en vastberadenheid toonde werd ze ook een rolmodel voor velen.

Haar eerste verschijning in de Amerikaanse Amazing Spiderman Annual 16 verscheen bij ons in Spectaculaire Spiderman 38.

Haar verdere avonturen kan je volgen in de Roger Stern run op Avengers, bij ons verschenen in Vergelders Special 10 tot 32.

Uiteindelijk zou Monica de rol van Captain Marvel achter zich laten en onder andere zoals Spectrum en Photon verdergaan. 

We zien haar in latere uitgaven wel nog eens terug als Captain Marvel in de Symbiote Spiderman reeks bij Dark Dragon Books.

De Geboorte van Ms. Marvel

In 1977 maakte Carol Danvers haar debuut als Ms. Marvel. Eerder verscheen ze al als een bijfiguur in de avonturen van Mar-Vell. Als officier zonder superkrachten in de United States Air Force maakte ze een dramatische transformatie door na een explosie samen met Captain Marvel in de Amerikaanse Captain Marvel 18. In de Amerikaanse Ms. Marvel 1 uit 1977 keert ze terug met enorme superkrachten.

Van deze periode is bijna niets in het Nederlands verschenen. Enkel in Marvel Superhelden 20 van Juniorpress maakt Carol haar opwachting. Naast een confrontatie met Spiderman uit Marvel Team-up 77 lezen we in dit nummer ook 3 delen uit haar eigen Ms Marvel reeks. 

Als Ms. Marvel werd Danvers een belangrijk lid van de Avengers. Ze komt bij het team in de Amerikaanse Avengers 171, bij ons verschenen in Vergelders 2 bij Juniorpress én in de fraaie Korvac Saga hardcovers bij Dark Dragon Books.

Begin jaren 2000 speelt Carol nog een belangrijke rol als Ms. Marvel in de herstart van de Avengers. Zo duikt ze op als vast personage in de 'Mighty Avengers' reeks. Daarvan zijn de 6 eerste nummers in het Nederlands gebundeld in de 'Renaissance Collectie' die verscheen bij supermarktketen Carrefour.

De Evolutie naar Captain Marvel

Door de jaren heen nam Carol nog verschillende codenamen aan zoals Binary en Warbird. Maar in 2012 kwam er een grote verandering toen ze de titel van Captain Marvel overnam onder het goedkeurende oog van Captain America. Deze verandering was een erkenning van haar plaats als een van de centrale superhelden van het Marvel universum.

De Marvel NOW reeks uit 2014 van schrijfster Kelly Sue Deconnick verscheen hier in 5 delen van de Captain Marvel serie bij de Boekenvoordeel uitgaven van Dark Dragon Books. 

In de Marvel Action reeks van Dark Dragon Books, die gericht is op jonge lezers, verscheen ook nog een deeltje over Captain Marvel.

Ook in het recente All-Out Avengers zie je Carol aan het werk als Captain Marvel. Net als in enkele delen van Marvel Action Avengers en Marvel Action Origins. Allen verschenen bij Dark Dragon Books.

Kamala Khan

In 2014 werd in de VS Kamala Khan geïntroduceerd als de nieuwe Ms. Marvel. Deze Pakistaans-Amerikaanse tiener uit Jersey City werd snel een favoriet bij vele fans door haar verhalen over identiteit, familie en multiculturalisme. Ze schopte het intussen tot een eigen tv-reeks op Disney+ (geregisseerd door het Belgische duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah) en ze duikt natuurlijk ook op in de The Marvels film. In de Nederlandstalige comics voorlopig echter nog geen spoor van Kamala…

Leestip: Lees meer over Shazam, die andere Captain Marvel

[pinerbikes]

Think mark think meme

Drawn to the gale power, Stunraan now threatens the lands and people of the Ohn'ahran Plains. His tempest electrifies the air and wreaks havoc upon the land. Stunraan's presence has been known to make the skies cry. The loot currently has a placeholder value of item level 280, but it should be on par with Normal difficulty Vault loot as was the case with world bosses and Castle Nathria at Shadowlands launch, so I think the bosses will drop ilvl 408 loot. Item Level of Loot from Dragonflight World Bosses Every week, a different world boss will spawn in one of the four zones in the Dragon Isles. The first batch of four world bosses available at launch are elemental-themed proto-drakes. It's time to take a look a the world bosses available at Dragonflight launch and the loot they drop. You can also check out our Sepulcher raid guides. We then have a DK-Paladin-DK sandwich, followed by Enhancement, which is still doing pretty well in Heroic, very much the opposite to how its doing in Mythic.Īll percentiles Heroic data by Warcraft Logs.Īs always, if you want even more info on a spec, you can check out our class guides here, for a DPS tier list you can go here, or for even more data, head on over to Warcraft Logs. Arms remains strong despite the raid change, even moving past Shadow this week, as Fire drops off the face of the earth. Survival makes a big comeback in Heroic, taking 2nd after its 7th spot last week, pushing Outlaw down into 3rd. Interestingly, the bottom 2 remain the same as in the Sanctum, with Feral and Frost being doomed to the end of the list.Īll percentiles Mythic data by Warcraft Logs. Fury manages to keep ahead of Retribution, but just barely, as the Paladins only rise 2 here. Affliction is back to the bottom, as is standard in the Sepulcher rotation, with Feral and Enhancement joining it.ĩ5th percentile Mythic data by Warcraft Logs.įrost DK rises in the generalist bracket as well, as Survival does even better here, and Unholy also holds on to its 4th spot from last week, even higher than in the top percentiles - keeping Destruction at bay. Elemental and Marksmanship complete the top 10, with the Shaman coming down and the Hunter going up from last week. Retribution shows another push upward as it leaps 4 into 6th, with a significantly sadder Fury and Windwalker having to step down from their top 3 spots last week to stand behind the Paladin spec. Survival is partial to the Jailer and his direct minions as well, rising 2 from the Sanctum, while Unholy DKs don't seem to much care about which raid it is, sitting in 5th regardless. Retribution is still the talk of the town, as it has solidified itself in the top 10 (and even higher) in all three raids!Īn important note before we begin: as the Fated raids are switching out each week, our comparisons to the previous weeks will be a little less relevant, but we'll still mention it for context - just keep in mind it won't be a direct comparison from week to week as it was before.ĭemonology reigns supreme across all three fated raids, but as we return to the Sepulcher we see Frost DKs return to the top, sitting in a Warlock sandwich, with Destruction also rising into the top 3. The Sepulcher has returned and reverted the standings to a more familiar, pre-Season 4 state, as Fury no longer has the Sanctum mechanics (and Painsmith) to fall back on. Then there's a very meta-one, using the original template, and since you could still enjoy the show from the above and below memes, this particular one is taken directly from it and is a major spoiler, so I'll just spoiler tag it: Then it's on to the other big story thread of WoW, as Velen explains things to Kil'jaeden: We start of with a classic, which is also still very relevant to the story today, as Arthas has a little chat with Uther: If you're not familiar with it you should check out the Know Your Meme post about it first, but meanwhile here are some really great Wow-themed entries! The meme itself is based around a confrontation at the end of the show, where one character explains something "obvious" to the other in a very. There are spoilers for the finale of the show ahead, so if you were thinking of watching it, maybe skip this one! One of the more popular recent meme formats has arrived in Azeroth and comes from a very appropriately named animated show, Invincible.

[visenyaism]

LOL do you remember when velen told tyrande that elune is a naaru and she was like you can get Right Out Of Here

velen made the classic blunder of assuming all priests are as into experimental cosmological theology as him. the night elves dont even think the second moon does anything theyre not interested in the space windchimes

[ninamiart]

Ankhe met Velen in TBC Classic!

[fanficfeeling]

No Place Like Home - Jaskier x Modern!Reader

A/N: Jaskier x Modern!Reader for anon. Thanks for the request, I had a lot of fun with this! Also, I feel like all some of these references might be a little bit dated, which I didn't realize until they were all in there. They're all still fairly famous though, so I hope you don't mind! I went with she/her pronouns on this, but if anyone wants to see me start using gender neutral pronouns, please let me know, or just add specific pronoun requests in your requests!

Request: hi! a jaskier x reader request for the witcher! would love a one shot of a modern!reader, who decides to follow the boys, either about them singing modern songs or making stupid modern day references that they wouldn't understand!

Warnings: Possible second hand embarrassment ahead? Also Wonderwall

Word count: 2300

Requests are OPEN

~~~

Y/N starts her day like she does every other day: by opening her window and breathing in the comforting Velen air.

Y/N doesn't know how she ended up in this world. For the first few months, she searched for a way home, or even just for answers about why she found herself in this place. She ended up empty-handed, and with no more leads to follow. She was forced to give up, and start making her own way. It was by a pure stroke of luck that she'd ended up with the house, and with a fairly easy, flexible job to pay for it, and after a while, she found she preferred this life to her old one. She stopped wondering why, and let this place be home. After the few years she's been here, she finds she's glad it all happened the way it did.

She finds herself smiling as she looks out into her little village, reveling in the peace it offers.

"Get out of here, you filthy Witcher!"

And that shout from the main road was the end of Y/N's peaceful lack of involvement. As she saw people go running towards the sound of the growing shouts, Y/N quickly left her home and began to follow suit in that direction, eager and anxious to see what could cause such a fuss. When she reached the scene of the commotion, her shock was evident.

There, trying his best to make his way through this small village with a bard at his side, was a Witcher. An actual, real life Witcher.

Well, as real as this world actually is, anyway.

Even more shocking was the townspeople harassing the seemingly unassuming men -- it seemed that most of the town were in on heckling them, despite their usual, friendly neighbor attitudes. It seemed the Witcher was used to the treatment, as he did his best to shield himself and his horse and continued walking calmly forward, although the bard was a bit more theatrical in his defenses, holding up his lute to cover his face and sighing dramatically at every passing insult.

I wonder if this could be the pair that the internet flipped out over when that tv series came out before I left? I never got into it, but I'm fairly sure that's where I am, and their faces seem familiar.

Y/N's heart nearly stopped when the Witcher's golden eyes made contact with hers. It seemed to take him but a split second to make a decision and begin a new course in her direction. She held her breath the entire time he made his way over.

When he finally stopped, he stopped directly in front of her, looming over her, far closer then she expected him. He was shockingly intimidating.

"You don't seem in the business of heckling strangers. I'm here to clear out a noonwraith I'd heard of in the vicinity. Do you know anything about that?"

It took Y/N far too long to gather enough courage to speak, and when she did, she could only hope her voice wasn't shaking too much, "A... noonwraith? Oh, yes, the ghost in the abandoned barn, just a little ways out of town. It's, uh... been a nuisance for farmers and travelers for some time."

The Witcher let out a small, "hm." in response.

"I could... show you to the location, if you need assistance? I know this area very well, and I would be happy to assist you if you would rid us of the... wraith."

"Geralt! How could you leave me to fend for myself like that?" The bard came up behind the Witcher quickly, like a burst of raw energy. He smiled when he spotted the Witcher talking to the woman, "Hello! Thank you for not hurling insults at us as we walk past! My name is Jaskier, a humble bard, at your service." Swiftly, he reached for her hand and pressed a swift kiss to her knuckles.

"Oh! It's really no problem, It certainly does no harm to not go out of my way to be rude. My name is Y/N, it's nice to meet you."

"Y/N has offered to lead us to the noonwraith, Jaskier. Y/N, how soon can you be ready to go?"

"Oh, well, I'm off work today, and I really don't have that much to take care of this morning -- if you'll allow me to grab some better shoes I should be ready in minutes."

"Take your time, I need some to prepare potions for the battle."

"You can come spend some time at the tavern with me while we wait for him." Jaskier punctuated his sentence with a wink.

Y/N felt her heart palpitate, and she'd never scrambled to get ready so quickly for anything.

When she found him in the nearly deserted tavern, he sat with a notebook in his hands, writing something down leisurely. If he's a bard, Y/N assumed it was some sort of song.

"Jaskier, yes? May I join you?"

He flashed a smile up at her, "Anything for such a beautiful woman." Y/N felt herself flush at the compliment as she sat down.

"So, Y/N, where are you from? You don't have the Velen accent, nor do you have the same... dispositions as your fellow townsfolk, I can't imagine you were born and raised here."

Y/N felt her heart speed up once more, just a fraction, "I wasn't. I came here just a few years ago, just sort of ended up here by chance. I was looking for something, but it didn't exactly work out, and I just never really bothered to leave. I'm thankful enough for it, Velen suits me very well."

"Very cryptic and fascinating story! You are dodging my original question though."

"Only because I don't think you'd have heard of where I'm from. It's not very well known around here."

"I'm not from around here."

"I doubt it's well known where you're from, either."

Jaskier gave her a quizzical look, but left her odd behavior alone, "Well then, what does the mysterious lady do for fun?"

This was the thing Y/N struggled with the most in this world. Her access to all her favorite tv shows, books, and movies were gone, and all she was left with were the only few books she had at her disposal, most of them terribly dry reading. Even worse: every pop culture reference she ever knew was now rendered completely useless.

"Well, I read as much as I can, with what little I have, and I go for long walks, but other than that, I mostly just work. Not much to do around here, honestly. I sing a little to myself sometimes to pass the time-"

Jaskier's face lit up like a Christmas tree, "You sing? What songs do you know?"

"I highly doubt you'd have heard of any of them."

"Nonsense, my trade is music! At the very least, you must sing something for me!"

"No! I don't sing for other people-"

"But if I've never heard of these songs of yours, you must educate me!"

"That's not exactly my job-"

The pair only stop upon hearing a gruff voice clear behind them.

"Are the two of you done?" Geralt asks, a minor level of annoyance evident. Y/N is the first to scramble to her feet, embarrassed.

Their departure is smooth, and Y/N promptly informs the pair that the journey should take but a half an hour or so.  

In response, Jaskier slings an arm over Y/N's shoulder, flashing her a smile, "Plenty of time for you to teach me a song or two."

"Are you really back at this again? My answer is still no."

"But would it not benefit my musically inclined soul to be exposed to a bit of your culture, wherever it may be from? You mustn't let my poor, culturally deprived soul wither away like this, fair lady."

"Don't you travel for a living?" Before Jaskier could sass her further with another response, Y/N took a less than graceful stumble over a tree root.

Geralt stopped walking and grabbed her arm as she steadied herself, "Are you alright?"

"Yes, I think I'm fine. Unfortunate that such a lack of grace had to come out around near strangers, but that's on me, I suppose." She laughed it off, playing glaring at the root that tripped her, "I'm walking here!" She said quietly to herself in her best fake New York accent, reveling in her classic movie references that no one else in this world could understand. At least they brought her a little bit of personal joy.

"Y/N, did you just speak to that tree root?" Jaskier asked, trying his best not to look concerned, and failing miserably.

The lady flushed crimson, "Oh, no, well, actually yes, but it's just a -- well, I guess it's just a reference to something you wouldn't understand. I apologize, that must have looked odd."

Jaskier let out a small chuckle (which Y/N had to admit, was distressingly attractive), "You've said a lot of odd things so far, but I'm certainly not minding."

In an attempt to escape her ever-expanding blush, Y/N began walking ahead of the men, "Right, well, on we go then."

After but a minute of silence, Geralt spoke up, "Y/N, would it suit us better to take an actual path, instead of just cutting through the forest?"

Y/N turned back to him and shook her head, "This will get us there much quicker, if we cut through here we'll end up right across the field from where you're trying to go."

Jaskier shook his own head now, "For a non-native, you do know this area very well."

"Elementary, my dear Watson. To anyone living in the area, anyway. Besides, I take lots of walks, remember?" She laughed to herself, and quietly shook her head once more as another movie scene came to her, muttering quietly, "Roads? Where we're going, we don't need roads." Thankfully, the men seemed to not hear that second reference, but she failed to see as they turned to each other in confusion over the first.

Y/N's impressive knowledge proved accurate after about the half an hour she promised, as the trio cut through the trees and ended up in a large field, a run-down barn just visible on the other side.

"See? That's where you're trying to get to."

"Thank you very much, Y/N. I'll take it from here." With that, Geralt strode off through the field, radiating with purpose. He really was truly quite intimidating.

After a moment of silence, in which Jaskier decided to make himself comfortable as he sat down, Y/N spoke once more, "So do we just wait here now?"

"That we do."

"What if he doesn't come back?"

"He will. No need to worry your pretty little head about that. However, if you're concerned about the waiting time, you could sing me a song to pass it."

Y/N sighed, "You truly won't give that up?"

"I had no plans to."

"I never should have told you about that."

"Or perhaps it was destiny that you did."

"You're so determined to make clever remarks, but that one didn't even make sense."

"Fair enough. Perhaps I would stop talking nonsense if you would keep me occupied with a song."

"Fine! Fine." Y/N let her shoulders sag in defeat as she sighed. "What do you want to hear, then?"

Jaskier pretended to contemplate her question for a moment, but he spoke far too quickly when he replied, "Sing me something romantic."

"You sly bastard. Alright, let me think a moment. Uh..."

What's something easy to sing, something well known enough that I'll know all the words, something romantic? Oh, I have a bad idea.

"Well, I suppose this could be interpreted as romantic." Y/N had to suppress her laughter. "And it's terribly catchy, so I know all the words quite well. And it's been around for quite a while. A lot of people don't like it because it's sort of overdone-"

"Y/N."

"Alright, fine, anyway, here's Wonderwall.

Today is gonna be the day that they're gonna throw it back to you By now you should've somehow realized what you gotta do I don't believe that anybody feels the way I do about you now"

Before Y/N knew it, the song was over - perhaps she'd just heard it so many times she blacked out the rest of the song - and to her dismay, Jaskier began clapping.

"And you say you don't sing for other people. That was lovely."

"You only say that because you haven't heard the song a million times."

"Also because your voice is joy to listen to."

"Oh stop it, you're just saying that-"

"Oh, is that the battle you want to fight?"

~~~

By the time Geralt had slain the wraith, Jaskier had insisted that they walk Y/N home ("Geralt, she helped us out here, it's the right thing to do!" "I'm quite capable of finding my own way home." "We insist."), and the trio had finished their more leisurely walk back along the main road, it was approaching evening. Before Y/N even knew it, they were at her front door.

"Ah, here we are. Thank you gentlemen, for your assistance."

"And thank you for yours, my lady."

"Anytime, Geralt. It would be my pleasure to assist you again if you're in the area and need a guide."

"I may yet take you up on that. Until then, have a good evening."

"You too. Safe travels."

The duo began to walk away, leaving Y/N feeling just a little bit sad, when Jaskier turned around and walked back to her. When he reached her, he grabbed her hand and pressed yet another kiss to her knuckles, like he had that morning.

"I will surely be counting the days until I can have the privilege of hearing your voice and odd sayings again."

Before she could retaliate, he had run off, and soon he was out of sight. She felt a little less sad now.

This is a home worth having. Yes, I'm quite happy things turned out this way.

[jeanvaljean24601]

Assassin's Creed Valhalla Hands-On Preview

I guide my longship along the waterways of East Anglia, one of the regions of Assassin’s Creed Valhalla’s Anglo-Saxon map. Ahead is the shoreline of Beodericsworth, which will soon be the stage for one of this Viking-themed entry’s flagship features; raiding. With the blow of a horn, my crew begin bailing out, charging up the sands and crashing into the shields of the village’s unprepared guards. Wood splinters, blood gushes, and heads drop from shoulders. It’s exactly the kind of skirmish you’d expect from a Norseman raid. Inside, we hack apart the guard leaders defending the village’s treasures and take it for ourselves. Amongst our findings are two caskets so large it takes multiple vikings to get them open, filled with raw crafting materials. It’s a bounty that will, at the very least, get a knowing nod from Odin, if not a smile.Raiding in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla feels smaller scale than I expected, but is nonetheless good fun, and a vital part of fulfilling the Viking fantasy at the heart of the game. It’s also not the only way to pillage a Saxon settlement. The first time I approached a raiding target in a recent three-hour hands-on with Valhalla, I actually bailed out of the longship on my own, snuck around the back, and crept from guard to guard, taking them out silently. Stealthing the entire camp was overly easy due to the enemies standing perfectly still at their posts - something I hope will be upgraded with patrol paths by the time of full release - but some satisfaction remained thanks to the fact that Assassin’s Creed’s iconic hidden blade has been restored to full power once again, killing instantly with a generous splash of crimson. Preorder Assassin's Creed Valhalla Post-raiding party, I take protagonist Eivor to meet up with fellow clansman Finnr, who sets us on a course to assault Burgh Castle in Northwich, where we’ll face a rival clan. This transitions into what is effectively the boss fight version of raiding; Valhalla’s siege assaults. This one begins with a Viking variant of D-Day, with landing craft exchanged for longships and machine gun fire swapped out for volleys of flaming arrows. As the boats hit the shore and the first set of walls are blown apart, I become tangled up in the first phase of the main assault. It’s here where Valhalla’s combat really shines, despite the rough edges of the work-in-progress build. It’s an iterative upgrade of the system first introduced in Assassin’s Creed Origins, but one with enough Norse-flavoured garnish that it feels just right. Active abilities return, including one that has Eivor hurl half a dozen throwing axes into a collection of nearby enemies, and another that’s basically a charge-and-tackle manovre that lasts for as long as there’s still yards left to sprint. Such abilities can only be triggered by spending adrenaline, which is built through performing standard attacks and parries. But the moments between those super-powered blows are no less entertaining. Enemies have a stun meter, which when worn down allows you to follow up with finishers such as beating them over the head with their own shield, or swinging your axe up through their chin. Foes knocked to the floor can be leapt and stomped on as if they were a bed at a child’s slumber party. And if they refuse to fall over, they can be gleefully booted across the battlefield with the Kick of Tyr; essentially Odyssey’s Spartan Kick in all but name. In moments like these, the spirit of the berserker really starts to shine through. With the first courtyard clear of enemies, I’m able to use a battering ram to break down a timber perimeter fence and progress up to the gate. There are three phases in the assault (frustratingly without checkpointing in this preview build, meaning a full restart on death) with each introducing a new wrinkle of complexity. At the next gate, contained within a stone archway, archers fire arrows from wall-mounted ballistas and pour gallons of burning oil over the ramming crew. On the other side in the final courtyard, the castle’s hardiest occupants do their best to scupper your assault.By this point, I’m feeling fairly exhausted (I’m on my third attempt) and Eivor is feeling the burn. There’s no regenerating health in Valhalla, nor an HP boosting ability like Odyssey’s Second Wind. Instead, you have rations; effectively health potions made up of food gathered from the open world. While the grounds of the castle have a few mushrooms to nibble on, by the last phase of the assault I’ve picked both the land and my pockets dry of food, and have sustained a dent to my HP meter. In other words, I’m not well equipped for the boss battle the game then throws me into. Rued is a rival Viking armed with a longsword he can set ablaze, and is accompanied by a pet wolf. Like with many of Assassin’s Creed Odyssey’s boss fights, it’s in this battle where you can detect some potential Soulsborne influences. Eivor has a stamina meter, depleted by dealing heavy melee damage, dodging, and absorbing enemy strikes with your shield. While light attacks may come for free, in a tight boss fight arena populated by a walking mountain and a ravenous wolf, it means stamina is constantly in need of attention. The wolf is able to grab hold of my shield in its maw, opening me up to heavy cleaves from Rued while I try to wrestle my arm free. A few well-placed strikes and some throwing axes knock the wolf out of the fight, leaving just Rued and I to dance it out atop the castle wall. As the fight progresses Rued begins to throw his weapons at me, but the combination of his attack patterns and the gap between us means there isn’t enough time for me to pull out my bow and strike back at range. With the screen fading to black as my health drops to critical levels, I’m just able to dodge a blow and generate enough adrenaline to perform Dive of the Valkyries; a leap that brings both my axe and shield down on Rued in a bone-crunching slam. He’s done for. Before I can bury the hatchet in his skull, though, my hand is stayed by Oswald, an Englishman ally who we’ve saved from Rued’s clutches. He preaches of fair trials before God, and I’m offered the choice to kill or spare my enemy. h96 max tv boxI do the sensible thing and slice open Rued’s neck with an axe, much to Oswald’s distaste.A bug in the demo - something not uncommon in pre-release builds - means I have to reset the game. I continue from where I left off, but am told that in this save game Eivor has abided by Oswald’s request and spared Rued. Fair enough, I think, that’ll keep him happy for his wedding, which is Valhalla’s next quest. Very much following in Odyssey’s footsteps, Valhalla - at least in this showing - has a well-judged balance between light and dark. h96 max x3After a gloomy castle siege I’m treated to a wedding filled with fun conversations and mini-games. I’m challenged to shoot a field full of targets after downing a flagon of ale, and take part in a drinking competition in which I need to neck no less than three horns of beer and not fall over in the process. It’s a delightful time to celebrate Oswald uniting with our clan as he marries Norsewoman Valdis. At least, it is until Rued crashes the party. It appears that Valhalla has ambitions to take the RPG side Assassin’s Creed up a notch; this moment feels like the kind of narrative consequence akin to what we’d see in games like Dragon Age. Because Rued had been spared, he turns up at the wedding looking for vengeance (had he died, I’m informed I’d instead be enjoying a race around the town). But rather than my blood, it’s Oswald’s he’s here to claim. At this point I’m offered another choice; I can let Oswald fight, or I can be his champion and kill Rued on his behalf. I take the latter option, and while I cut down Rued for good this time, Oswald seems slightly disappointed in me taking his place. I wonder if, in later hours, this will have a negative effect on our relationship. I also wonder if this is not just a one off event, but a promise that Valhalla is filled with these kinds of choices and repercussions. Along with narrative choices, Valhalla also iterates on the RPG stats systems its predecessors added to the Assassin’s Creed mix. Alongside the familiar active abilities is a constellation-style map of skill upgrades that provides a variety of passive upgrades. Some improve your basic stats - higher damage, increased health - while others unlock new combat moves such as stun attacks and finishers; those additional attacks that make the combat that extra bit more flavourful. Together, all of your upgrades increase your Global Power rating, a numerical indicator as to how powerful you are that replaces standard levelling. h96 max x3Alongside the introduction of further RPG mechanics, Valhalla’s world is also significantly more traditional of the genre, too; when galloping around it on my horse, or sailing down rivers on my longboat, it was easy to mistake England for The Witcher 3’s Velen. This means, visually, Valhalla is less striking than Odyssey or Origins, with its practically Tolkien colour palette feeling less fresh than the sands of Egypt or mediteranean greenery of Greece. Yet, perhaps because I’m English, I can’t help but get a thrill out of exploring just-about-recognisable versions of my own homeland.h96 max x3It should also be noted that Valhalla embraces British folklore perhaps more than it does Norse Mythology; as I explored this small chunk of the world I came across Black Shuck, a huge black dog that’s part of classic East Anglian folklore, as well as two members of the Daughters of Lerion; Gaelic women dressed in skulls with a fondness for sacrificial rituals and the supernatural. As with Odyssey, exploring uncovers optional bosses and other fun activities, although this time it’s all a lot more goth. Assassin’s Creed Valhalla looks to be, as is the tradition of the series, an iterative update on its predecessors. If the new approach to RPG design and gear-based progression has put you off the series, this slice of the game indicates that you’ll likely be unconvinced by Valhalla’s barely altered direction. But the few changes it makes to those systems suggests developer Ubisoft Montreal may have a newfound confidence in its RPG abilities, and a willingness to embrace more of the genre’s toolset. If its branching story points are frequent occurrences, it may be that Valhalla’s real innovation comes from player agency in the narrative, rather than any mechanical revisions. Provided the game delivers on that promise, my only genuine concern is that the return of the lethal hidden blade hasn’t resulted in instantly satisfying stealth. h96 max tv boxIt currently feels underbaked due to those stationary guards, and so needs some extra challenge to make it a worthwhile alternative to the entertainingly barbaric combat encounters. Fix that, and Assassin’s Creed Valhalla might well be able to both reclaim its lineage and further its admirable RPG ambitions.Matt Purslow is IGN's UK News and Entertainment Writer.

[chilljustacat]

[hypexion]

Hearthstone: Priest Reworks

Priest is having card changes and new cards, so that the class’s Basic and Classic sets don’t suck so much.

First up, card changes. Some good, some less so.

Power Word: Shield will cost zero, but also loses the card draw. It’s probably useless now, unless Priest gets lots of stuff that makes zero mana spells good.

Holy Smite will deal three damage, but only to minions. This actually feels like a fair trade, and it seems like it might actually be worth playing now. Sadly, this also means it can’t used as a killer combo piece any more, which might hurt some decks in Wild.

Shadow Word: Death will cost two. This is basically a straight upgrade unless you’re playing some weird Odd Quest Priest in Wild. (It’s me. I’m playing that deck.)

Thoughtsteal will cost two. Another upgrade, card is still vile.

Shadow Madness is the third direct upgrade, with it’s cost going down to three. It’s still a bit pricy for the effect, but maybe it’ll see more play now.

Holy Nova will get a cost reduction to four mana, but also loses the ability to hit the enemy hero. Probably now worth thinking about for Quest Priest, since it can get you a lot of healing from a single card, while weakening your opponent’s board.

Finally, Temple Enforcer gets a different kind of upgrade, going up to six health. Honestly don’t see this having much of an effect on how playable it is in Constructed, since it’s still five mana.

Next up, the new cards to replace the ones that got removed.

Psychic Conjurer is another copy card. It fills in the one mana 1/1 random generator slot for Priest. Is vile.

Scarlet Subjugator is a tricky minion to weaken enemy minions. Since it’s effect lasts until your next turn, it could actually be rather decent. It certainly has the potential to act as a speed bump for aggressive decks, and can help you get better trades later on.

Kul Tiran Chaplin is a smaller version of Temple Enforcer. Being cheaper probably makes it better, since you can use it early on to get better trades, and it’s easier to use it in the late game. It might even be the two mana minion Priest has wanted for years!

Power Infusion is just another buff card. Give a minion lots of extra health, so you can heal it more when it gets hurt. Or you can use Inner Fire on it to make it extra scary. Probably not actually playable, since buffs tend not to be.

Shadow Word: Ruin is the Priest board wipe to end all Priest board wipes. Mostly because adding this to Classic means that a new one doesn’t need to be printed every year. It looks pretty good, especially now that more and more decks are able to spew out armies of gigantic minions.

Natalie Seline has a normal sounding name, and thus cannot be trusted. She’s also the Velen replacement, and eats another minion to steal their health. She’s removal and value, all in one eight mana package. However, she doesn’t do much else, which means you need to make the removal count. She’s also rather awkward to play when you’re ahead, since if your opponent doesn’t have any minions, she’ll destroy one of yours. Kind of a problem, honestly.

Overall, Priest is actually get some useful tools. Hopefully this shoring up of the Basic and Classic set will allow Priest to get some more interesting cards in the upcoming sets, rather than constant near-reprints of stuff the class needs to function properly.

[wowheadquarters]

Ranking their singing voices

For a lovable anon. Mirror mirror on the wall, who has the singiest voice of them all? This list is out of the usual order with the least singing voices at the top and the best singers at the end. Most of this goes from headcanons rather than serious lore backup, so... So if you view it differently than I do, I’m not saying it’s wrong! Ft. three songs.

Geya’rah: Run! Cover your ears and run! Forget the children and run!

Lor'themar: Firstly, Lor’themar cannot be bothered to sing anywhere near the key or the rhythm. Or to sing at all. Secondly, if you have been paying attention, on this blog at least the Lord Regent has a serious problem with drinking and alcohol isn’t exactly what you should overdo if you want to pursue an opera singer career.

Spirit of Vol’jin: Perhaps he used to be really good at singing, the Zandali language is melodic after all and there is no way serving the loa doesn’t include singing your voice out. But let’s also remember he got his throat slit on Pandaria and it actually never healed properly.

Taedal: He can barely speak competently, it’s a miracle he can sing. Because I say so. Unless I find a very valid reason to retcon this decision, a screeching buzzard sounds ten times better than Taedal.

Ghost Garrosh: As much as he isn’t like his father, he is more close to the scream part in Hellscream rather than the song part in Warsong. (Although, if this list was ranked by rapping capability, he’d be far more towards the top.)

Thalyssra: The Nightborne overall aren’t something I personally would be willing to listen to for too long. Thalyssra and Occuleth sound better than their generic brethren, but the First Arcanist still sounds like her nose is full, so... we give this a soft no.

Ghost Varin: He is dead as dust and also hoarse most of the time because of all the shouting he does. Maybe if we let his voice rest long anough to recover a bit, it gets better.

Anduin: Thanks the Light he is behind the awkward years of voice transition, but it is still... Not something he’d be off to show off. He isn’t a practising priest, he’s a battle-priest, so it’s okay.

Falstad: His voice is actually quite fine, but once he gets on the brew, which is usually half an hour after he rolls out of the bed, he loses his sense of rhythm and melody whatsoever.

Mekkatorque: That’s how you fix most computers: with a lot of swearwords and singing. Also, ‘Torque is the person who sings when stressed. As in “This is all terrible and we’re gonna diiiii-eeee, lala lala la.”

Thrall: Surprisingly good, given he has absolutely zero practice or knowledge of theory at all.

Moira: She doesn’t sing much, but she sings. It is mostly a church practice, I suppose. She doesn’t have to be really good, though, because in places like Ironforge or Shadowforge (as the Dark Iron city in the Blackrock mountain is actually called) has that kind of acoustic everything sounds ten times better than it is.

Aysa: Sometimes people have hard time telling when she is reciting poetry and when she is singing. Her range is narrow, but within her range she is very good.

Ji: As long as you can prevent him from yodelling for fun... Unfortunately, Ji is more of a troll this way.

Velen: He is a Middle Earth fan and nerd. If you have read Silmarilion (like Velen most likely had, or some Azeroth/Argus version of it at least), you’d know the whole story is one big musical. Following this logic, Velen sings.

Muradin: Maybe it is just me, but Muradin is one of the most classic “high fantasy dwarf” trope we have. And those do sing.

Turalyon: He was a Knight of the Silver Hand, that is a trained Paladin. That means he spent years and years in churches and cathedrals full of singing and chanting priests. He most likely had to join some choir of young novices or something, where singing was more or less literally beaten into him.

Mayla: The Tauren have such beautiful melodic voices, it sounds like they are already singing.

Baine: He is probably as good as Mayla, I just have a thing for deeper voices, that’s all. 

Genn: Comes out really surprising, but after the Worgen curse he ended up with a far better hearing, so he had to improve. Not like he sings often. Kings are only allowed to sing in the shower and only when nobody hears them. 

Talanji: Up with Vol’jin I said something about singing while in the service of the Loa, so here is a Priest Princess. Also her not-singing voice is something I could listen to all day.

Alleria: I suppose it’s a Windrunner thing, the singing. But she is older, got stuck in the stressing Twisting Nether for aeons from her point of view, and I am pretty sure the Void doesn’t go soft on your throat either. She used to be better.

Gallywix: I like to think that his path to success was composed of insurance fraud, tax evasion, and a couple of top selling Goblin!Broadway musicals which he both composed and sung in. And while a big portion of his mass is fat, there is also a plenty of room for a pair of really big lungs. With all the theatre-like props he’s wearing, he probably wanted to pursue an opera singer career.

Sylvanas: One of the few people we have actually heard singing, probably. In case you haven’t, she’s the person responsible for the WoW cover of the Lament of the Highborne with backup banshees and all of that. 

Tyrande: I am pretty sure that to be a good priest of Elune, you have to have better than decent voice do sing chants and psalms and whatnot. (It would be easier to say if we got a more in-depth view on the religions of Azeroth, even the “boring” ones. Oh well, I guess I have to do everything by myself in this house.) And Tyrande is in charge. What I am trying to get at is that she has to have sing beautifully. Probably practices on lullabies for Malfurion.

Jaina: Anyway.

[youngster-monster]

Who you should fight 2: racial leaders editions

@birch-nitwitch​ ask and you shall receive

in honor of the only good post i’ve ever written and because i’m hardcore procrastinating on both nano and sleep, here’s a guide on which racial leader of azeroth you should fight, brought to you by a guy who hasn’t played WoW since Cataclysm and has only a tenuous grasp on canon

(put under the cut because wow this got long)

Anduin: you can, on a strictly technical level, fight Anduin. guy’s a pacifist AND a little punk ass bitch. but be aware that this might anger varian so much the guy will actually bring himself back to life just to kick your ass in retaliation. Wait, in hindsight, do it. Fight Anduin. reunite a family.

Council of Three Hammers: I had to google who the fuck is leading the dwarves lately and that should tell you all you need to know about their ability to face you in glorious combat. On the one hand, there’s three of them, but on the other hand they’ll spend so much time arguing on HOW to fight you that they’ll probably forget to actually do it

Malfurion: probably the only case where animal cruelty is justified. for our sake and his, please fight malfurion.

Tyrande: morally speaking, you should fight Tyrande, but physically, can you? She’s like 7 feet tall and built like a tank from having to carry the weight of her responsabilities for ten thousand years. fight her at your own risk.

Gelbin Mekkatorque: pretty sure you can punt that motherfucker across the ocean. go for it.

Velen: this is an old man! why would you want to fight an old man! the guy’s been through enough already. more importantly: he saw his oldest friends turn into demons and then had to kill them, and that didn’t break him. what makes you think you can?

Genn Greymane: please, for the love of god, fight genn. drag his furry ass to the city square, maybe bring some friends. He didn’t get bullied enough in school and that’s why he’s Like That so it’s your duty to fix it.

Aysa Cloudsinger: now that’s DEFINITELY animal cruelty, but you can lure her into a philosophical debate and then punch her. is it moral and just to retaliate? take advantage of her moment of doubt to run away. that’s how you fight Aysa Cloudsinger (without getting PETA on your ass)

Saurfang: this might be the only person on the entire planet who would fight you and make it a fun, learning experience. the guy has such big dad energy he’d probably let you win, too, and if he didn’t he’d at least tell you why you didn’t beat him afterwards. fight saurfang, and then give him a #1 dad shirt. he deserves it.

Sylvanas: listen. listen. you want to fight sylvanas. i want to fight sylvanas. everyone and their dog wants to fight sylvanas. so by all means, queue up, but be warned the wait WILL be longer than getting into classic on release day. also she’ll absolutely tear you apart, but that’s a small price to pay.

Baine Bloodhoof: you know i’m starting to realize there might be a few furries on the wow devteam. but apart from that, sure, fight baine. I’m sure he could use the stress relief.

Queen Talanji: kind of cheating with that but fuck it, there’s no one leading the trolls so the zandalari will have to do. anyway, you won’t have to fight her, because, and i cannot stress this enough, you shouldn’t fight queen talanji. don’t do it! just don’t! she has dinosaurs and she won’t hesitate, bitch. diplomatic accident whom? after the bullshit we had to go through to get her into the horde you better believe we’re giving her a full pardon after she beats you into a bloody smear on the ground.

Lor’themar: for the love of god please let that man rest. it’s for your own good. he doesn’t care, he just wants to nap, and he will yeet you all the way to outlands if you push him to it. don’t think he won’t.

Gallywix:  not only should you fight him, i’ll actually pay you to do it. capitalism is a disease. heroes of the world unite, you have nothing to lose but your chains. also he definitely commits tax fraud.

Ji Firepaw: he is dumb of ass and full of heart and will meet your challenge with a swift and decisive ass kicking. square up, scrub, we brawlin

[levisgeekstuff]

Waar is Wonder Woman?

In onze Nederlandstalige comics hebben we niet te klagen over het aantal Marvel helden dat een aanzienlijke hoeveelheid uitgaven op zijn naam heeft staan. Alle grote namen zijn hier wel eens gepubliceerd, en zelfs vele B-figuren zoals She-Hulk, Spiderwoman of Cloak en Dagger hadden op een bepaald punt hun eigen serie.

Bij de helden van DC is dat toch een ander verhaal. Uiteraard is er een zeer aardige hoeveelheid uitgegeven van Batman en Superman, maar daarna wordt het al snel wat minder. Flash en Green Lantern kunnen nog enigszins in de spiegel kijken. Maar... waar is Wonder Woman? Als één van de drie grote pijlers van DC kan de amazone maar op bijzonder weinig uitgaven reken. Een overzicht:

Super Club Classics

In 1973 begon Classics met goede moed aan de 'Super Club' imprint, waarin sterke series maar met in de Lage Landen iets minder bekende helden een kans kregen. Naast oa. Superboy kreeg ook Wonder Woman hier een plekje in haar eigen serie.

Ik weet niet of het toeval was, maar in Wonder Woman nummer 1 lezen we de vertaalde versie van de Amerikaanse Wonder Woman 204. Een erg belangrijk nummer, omdat het na heel wat experimenten tijdens de 'silver age' met een zachte, naïeve Diana de terugkeer betekende naar de roots van de serie. Wonder Woman werd weer een taaie, feministische voorvechter.

Helaas bleek het toch niet zo'n succes in Nederland en België en werd de reeks na 4 nummers alweer stopgezet.

Gastoptredens

Het blijft dan jarenlang stil rond Wonder Woman. Gedurende de rest van de jaren 70, 80 én 90 moet ze het stellen met een handvol kleine gastrollen in de verschillende Superman reeksen van Classics en Baldakijn.

In 1997 was er ook nog een klein uitstapje naar de serie 'DC versus Marvel'. In nummer 6 van die reeks lezen we de avonturen van 'Amazon', de Amalgam-versie van Wonder Woman en Storm van de X-Men. Fijne John Byrne comic trouwens!

RW brengt redding

Het zou uiteindelijk nog tot 2013 duren voor we Wonder Woman terugzien in het Nederlands. Uitgeverij RW Lion was intussen begonnen met zijn DC hardcovers en naast 'usual suspects' Batman en Superman was daar ook 'Wonder Woman: de Hiketeia' bij. (Toegegeven, eigenlijk ook een halve Batman comic)

Dat smaakte blijkbaar naar meer, want niet veel daarna bracht RW ook de heerlijke en vernieuwende run van Brian Azzarello op Wonder Woman uit. De ontstaansgeschiedenis werd hier flink onder handen genomen en tekenaar Cliff Chiang herstelde in zijn zeer sfeervolle stijl het oude kostuum van Wonder Woman in ere. Een aanrader!

Die ontstaansgeschiedenis van Wonder Woman is trouwens een behoorlijke soep. Doorheen alle jaren zijn er al zoveel verschillende versies geweest dat velen door de bomen het bos niet meer zien. Toch bracht RW Lion in 2018 nóg één van die nieuwe versies uit, die in de VS destijds verscheen onder de 'DC Reborn' vlag. Deze versie leunt trouwens het dichtst aan bij de filmversie uit 2017 met Gal Gadot (😍).

Waarschijnlijk probeerde RW een beetje in te spelen op het succes van die film, want rond die periode verschenen ook nog 2 aparte uitgaven van Wonder Woman. Eentje daarvan was zowaar een cross-over met Conan 🤔. Voor de volledigheid geef ik nog mee dat Wonder Woman ook haar opwachting maakt in de meeste Justice League uitgaven van RW.

Icoon

De teller bleef tot 2020 dus op 12 'eigen' uitgaven staan voor Wonder Woman. Geef toe, dat is toch bedroevend weinig voor zo'n icoon. Dat moet ook uitgever Dark Dragon Books gedacht hebben. In de reeks 'DC Icons' met daarin verschillende one-shots door Alex Ross en Paul Dini verscheen in 2022 ook het deeltje met Wonder Woman.

En intussen brengt Dark Dragon Books ook de fantastische 3-delige miniserie 'Wonder Woman: Historia' uit. Bekroond met 2 Eisner Awards!